Leg to Abdominal Connection

Hi everyone, I'm Carrie Pages. I'm so excited to be here teaching a reformer class. I have the beautiful Meredith here. She's gonna be my student, so you ready to get started? Mm-hmm. Okay.

So just standing heel-to-heel take your right knee bend your knee up, extend it out and just place the foot down on your foot bar. We're gonna take your arms out to the side, and we're gonna take a deep breath in. As you exhale bend and go into a lunge, and then inhale push back. All right, keep going you're gonna do that twice more. Exhale, bend, energy into your back heel as you're coming forward.

Inhale, push back. Exhale forward on this one and you're gonna hold. Take your hands bring them down to the outsides of your foot, and allow your head to release down, good. Not going to full extension you're gonna go ahead, and lean back and stretch your right leg to where you can. It's early in the workout.

Don't feel like you need to straighten, and then come back forward. Take it back again, inhale, move back, and exhale. Come forward. Last time we're gonna inhale go back, and you're just gonna stay here. Let your head release down.

Relax through the back of the neck. Take a moment there breathe in again. As you breathe out draw the naval in and up, and see if the neck can release a little more. Go forward into your lunge again. Go ahead and bring your gaze out.

Have a good grip with your hands. You're gonna gracefully take your right foot back, and find a plank in this position, nice. In this position take a deep breath in. We're gonna exhale, pull the ribs back, pull the waist back and a push-up, inhale, bend, beautiful. Exhale, press up, again, inhale, bend, think press from the belly.

Exhale, beautiful. Again, inhale, bend, exhale, press up. Inhale, four, exhale, press up. Last one, bend and press up. Step your feet forward about a foot's length, and then just take that back into like a down dog stretch there just letting yourself hang from the foot bar.

Beautiful, now bring your body weight into your feet, and roll it up, beautiful. All right, you want to step back about a foot's length. There we go, other leg, bring it up, extend it out, and place the foot down. Arms come out nice, inhale, exhale, come forward. Think of using your core here.

Inhale, push yourself up to straight. Again, exhale, bend the knee, draw the naval to the spine. Inhale push yourself back. Exhale bend the knee and here's where we pause. Take the hands down to the bar.

Allow your head to hang and release. With an inhale push yourself back. You don't need to go all the way straight. Exhale, draw the abdominals in, come forward, and, again, inhale, push yourself back. Exhale, draw the abdominals in, come forward.

Inhale, push back on this one and hold. Release the neck, let the head just hang down. Stay there for another breath. Inhale and as you exhale draw the abdominals even more in and up. Come back into your lunge as gracefully as possible.

Slide the foot back find a nice plank and here we go. Five push-ups, inhale, bend, exhale, press. Again, bend and up. Inhale, use your abs more than your arms, press. Beautiful, Meredith.

Inhale, bend, exhale, press one more time. Inhale, bend, and exhale, press. Go ahead and lean back. You can walk your feet forward just a little bit, and go into a flat back stretch again. Very nice, very nice, and now just come forward shifting the weight into the balls of the feet, and roll your spine up.

Head is the very last thing. Very nice, we're gonna come down onto the reformer now. We are on a Gratz reformer, and I have Meredith on three springs. Bring in your feet into Pilates V stance. You can bring your arms down beside you.

So in this position really press your heels together, and then I want you to pretend that you have a magic circle between your legs, and just without really moving your knees think hug in on the circle a little bit. Now take your little toe, and think of reaching the little toe a little bit into the bar. Now straighten your legs, push up to the top, and we're gonna pause here for a minute. So I want you to relax your shoulders, and let the weight of the spring help you create more length right up through the top of the head. Squeezing the heels here I want you to think of bringing awareness to the posterior portion of your inner thighs, so right where your butt meets your thigh you're kind of wrapping but the feet don't move.

Stay there find another, inhale, let the exhale bring you in, and, again, inhale you get up there, you find that connection at the inner thighs, exhale, bring it in. Inhale, take it to the top. Exhale, drag the carriage in, beautiful. Keep going we're doing 10 this is four. Exhale pulls you in.

Bring in a little awareness to the hands. As you press down there try not to lock the elbows, but pressing just enough that you feel the back of the arm. Good, inhale, take it up. Keep thinking about the magic circle between the knees a little hug, last one, take it up. Exhale brings you in.

Go into the bird feet stance, knees and feet come together. Let's walk the feet all the way together today, good, and just let your toes wrap a little. Make sure you have a good secure position on the foot bar when you push to the top just to make sure you're not sliding around. All right, pause there for a minute. Watch any locking of the knees.

Zip up through the inner thighs. Again, thinking a little bit about that posterior position of the inner thighs. Breathe in and your exhale pulls you in, beautiful. Inhale, take it to the top. Find the inner thighs, exhale brings you in.

Continue inhaling up and exhale, very nice. Inhale up. Exhale drags you in. Keeping a focus with the hands pressing exhale in. Inhale, and then two more.

Inhale, zip through the inner thighs. Exhale, pulls you in. One more, up and in. Beautiful, walk it to your heels. So on the heels I want you to really feel like you're gonna place your toes right back on your knees.

The very first moment of the pushing back is gonna initiate by pulling the toes more, so here you go take the toes up with an inhale, and resist them moving towards me. Initiate right away with the toes, exhale drags you in. Find that inner thigh thing, good, and exhale brings you in, that was pretty, up and exhale in, keep going, toes go with you, and bring it in hands still pressing. Up, that's so nice, exhale in. Inhale, exhale, come in.

We'll call this 10, and bring it in. We're gonna do low pulses here, so you're moving about halfway up and back in. One and two, let's keep these just a little smaller. There you go, four, perfect, and five, you still have that inner thigh, and in, and in. Take it to halfway and just pause.

Let's come in, yeah, right there, so now as you hold there use the inner thighs the glutes and the hamstrings more than the quads. The quads are working I know, and now pulse above that level. Up, up, beautiful, three, take the toes with you. Four, five, six, seven for 10 and eight. Nine, all the way up, Meredith, feel the inner thighs working.

Soften the shoulders, lengthen the spine. Pull the carriage all the way in, beautiful. We're going to Pilates V stance for your heel, lower and lift. Magic circle is still there. Push to the top, inhale.

Now exhale, lower the heels under, inhale, rise up, and, again, exhale, press down and up. More awareness in your core, so exhale, naval drops, ribs heavy, inhale. Again, let's go down let's hold this exhale a little longer, and get a full exhale where the ribs tighten, beautiful. Inhale takes you up. Do that again, exhale.

Full breath out, beautiful. One more time, inhale, rise up, exhale, press down, let's rise up, bend the knees, come all the way in. All right, nice job. So we're gonna go into 100 beats next. I'm gonna take her down to one spring today, and I'm gonna take a little different approach, so we're not using handles.

Let me just change your spring. All right, so scoot down off your shoulder rest quite a bit. Okay, all right, so go down to the balls of the feet again for me please. Straighten your legs slowly, and let's make sure you don't get jammed up into the shoulder rests. Does it feel light enough that you're not gonna shift?

I feel fine. Okay, great, so take a moment here and breathe in. As you breathe out lower your chin to your chest, curl for me and reach your arms to the foot bar. All right, now I want you to take your hands bring them behind your head, and interface the fingers to create a cradle for the head with the hands. We're gonna draw the elbows in about three inches more than you think you should, good.

Now breathe in, with your exhale lower your heels under the bar, and as you do that just barely push up under the foot bar to help you find a deeper low belly connection. Rise up, inhale, that was fun, and exhale, press down, so from the naval to the pubic bone we're deepening, inhale, rise up, again, watch any tucking there. Lengthen the front of the body. Yes, but pull tight in the low belly. Inhale, rise up, we're going down once again.

Exhale, now wherever you feel the most abdominal connection I want you to freeze your heels in space. Take your hands now reach them beside you, and now we go right into 100. Inhale, two, three, four, five, exhale, two, three, four, five. Soften the shoulders a little if you can. That was very nice, good, breathe in.

So there's a constant feeling of pressing up into the foot bar that helps you find a deep abdominal connection. We are going to use that as our theme throughout the workout today. You only have to do one more breath. Inhale and exhale and you get to hold right there. Put your hands behind your head again.

Support the neck completely, do little crunches, come up, one, a little down, up, two, that is so nice. A little down, up, three, we're doing eight, so you might want to go a little quicker, and up four, and up five, and up six. Low belly drops to pull you up one more. Up, rest your head down, bend your knees, come all the way into the stopper and you can relax. All right, we're gonna stand up now, and go into the stomach massage so you can stand up.

I'm gonna get your box for you, and we're gonna use the box, and bring it forward on the carriage. There's about five inches or so from the edge of the carriage, and then we're also using a sticky pad to help her stabilize on the box. Have a seat and your feet are gonna come up onto the bar in Pilates V stance. All right, so take a nice breath and sitting tall. You're gonna do a little sitting curl, round forward, let your fingertips reach down the box just a little bit.

Very good, now think press back into the box, bend the elbows and pull up, and let that connection of your hands pressing into the box come from the low belly. I'm gonna have you lower your heels just a little because we're also gonna use that feeling of pressing up on the foot bar like we did in 100 beats. So straighten your legs, inhale, take it back. Exhale, beautiful, inhale, press with the hands when you bend your knees, Meredith, so it's like your gonna move the box out from underneath you. Inhale, take it up, exhale, press back, but the press comes from the belly.

Inhale, take it back, exhale brings you in one more time. Inhale to the top, exhale brings you in. We're gonna take that up into a reach now, so bring the arms to me, good. Set the shoulders back in place. Even though your hands aren't on the box it's the same feeling, so push to the top, inhale.

Find low belly and pull the carriage in. Again, inhale, press to the top. Exhale, very nice. Inhale, up, exhale, and again, inhale, exhale in. Lower the arms to shoulder height.

We're gonna do the twist. You're gonna twist towards this direction, inhale. Go ahead and extend. I'm gonna give you a little pressure on your hand. You're gonna turn your chin over your shoulder and lengthen, ooh, and then come in, very nice, and to the windows, inhale, good.

We're getting a little extra twists. Soften the shoulders down and gradual, beautiful, and then come in. All right, without me try to get there. Inhale, rotate the spine, look back. Exhale, bring it in, very nice, inhale.

Rotate the spine, look back, exhale, brings you in, and that's enough. You can take your hands there, and bring them right down onto the bar, and just extend the legs, and just get a little stretch there. It doesn't need to be a big deal just a little stretch. Head just hangs, bend the knees, come all the way in. Good, and you can stand on the floor, very nice.

So we're going into long box next. Starting with swan we're going to one spring. She's gonna lie down on her stomach, and when you lie down place yourself so like your forehead could rest on the bar if you wanted to because you don't have to. All right, so I want to have your hands positioned on the side today, so, yeah, like that, all right. So go ahead and just straighten your arms.

Do you need a sticky or are you okay? I think I'll be fine. Okay, all right, so push into the foot bar, and roll the carriage back as far as you possibly can, almost letting your chest soften a little. Very nice, this is gonna be start and stop today, so we won't bend the arms and come back in. Start to let the shoulders slide down the back.

Start to bring the gaze out towards me, and you're gonna bring yourself up, but you're gonna use the external rotation of the arm as you come up, so it's like you're turning your elbow back rotating here, and it's a feeling of pulling yourself up, and then take that all the way down, beautiful, good. Again, just let the shoulders roll back, good, and the elbows turned down, nice. So you're kind of pulling and lifting to assist that. Very nice, and take it down, good. Using the inner thighs a little more than the glutes to hold the legs up last one today, lift, nice, inhale.

Let's pause that one, take the chin just a little higher. A little more chest open, yeah, and then take that down. Beautiful, good, bend your elbows come all the way in. Don't hit your head on the bar, good, and then just stand up on the floor, nice, okay. So we'll do pulling straps next, but we're not gonna use straps for the first rep.

So if you'll lie down on your stomach. All right, so in this position just reach the arms straight down to the floor, yeah, all right. Again, just a little more inner thigh to hold the legs up just like we did in footwork. You're just upside down, okay? Start the movement of the arms by just pulling the shoulder bones back, beautiful, and now the arms come up.

We're gonna go just to the level of the body. In this position let's let the hands come away from the hips just a little bit, good, and then I'm putting my hands right here. You're gonna push me away, Meredith. Let your chest go back down, so I don't want so much of a lift of the back I want more of a push of, yes, of the shoulders back, beautiful, so this is the position I want you to memorize. We're gonna do that when we get the straps on the hands.

Take the arms down and release, gorgeous, okay. Reach out for your straps. Let the handles go to the outside of the frame, and then you'll just walk your hands up as high as you can on the straps, good. Well, yeah, so go all the way up to where you can keeping the hands on the outside of the frame. Good, all right, okay, so first thing we do draw the shoulder bones back and down, now pull.

Inhale, nice strong reach, pause there. Push more into the knuckles just down a little. Arms reach longer, yes, and then lower the arms, and let the head release down, beautiful. So not so high, more back, and pull. Inhale, reaching the arms long give me that length.

Gorgeous, and come down, so pretty. Good, and here's your last one. Move the shoulders first, pull the straps. Create length, exhale. Take the arms down and release.

Okay, good, just let go of the straps let them rest on the floor, and I'll hand them to you in a second for T because we're gonna do the first rep without straps, okay? Take your arms out, very nice. So I want you to pretend you have a TheraBand in your hand right here. It's going all the way across the front of your arm across your chest and across the front of the other arm. As you hold the TheraBand in your hands reach it really long, so feel like you're gonna stretch it out while also softening down, beautiful.

With an inhale bring the hands back, so the palms stay down. That looks great, beautiful. Now exhale, return to start, and as you do so the shoulders soften, but you're stretching the TheraBand long. Again, inhale, arms come back. Oh, I just said one, but you'll do two, and exhale, return to start.

Arms reaching long, shoulders softened down, and you can relax, all right. So the TheraBands are little, focus on this one, so you're gonna hold on. Go all the way to the ends of the leather straps with your grip. That's perfect, yeah. So arms come up, and I want you to try to stay on the stopper.

Yes, so I like the arms in a straight line right here in the start position, and I don't like the carriage to be moved at all, so I want it to stay right into the stopper. Are you already tired? I'm fine. So hands up one inch higher. Stretch the TheraBand across your chest, gorgeous.

Okay, now here we go, inhale, the arms come back. Think little finger towards hip. Exhale, return to start. We pause for a moment at the stopper, and soften the shoulders. Stretch the TheraBand, hands one inch higher.

Yes, again, inhale, arms go back. Exhale, return to start, lengthen, and, again, inhale, bring it back. Exhale, return to start taking a moment once you get there soften the shoulders and stretch the TheraBand longer. Lift the arms an inch higher. Stretch it even longer, relax, beautiful job.

Good job, that was really pretty. You can hook the handles on the pegs and stand up. That was really nice. Okay, so we're gonna go into short box next. Still on one spring.

The box is gonna come here. So I have started to really like doing short box here. It is a variation. You need to make sure that the box is safely and securely positioned on the frame that is really obviously really important. So when I line it up I make sure that the box is flush on the sides here equally on each side, and then on the foot bar you want to get it like as close to the edge of the carriage here as possible.

If for some reason your box does not have the foot bar pushing off on the other end don't do this. You want to be safe. So go ahead and have a seat on the box. I want your bottom as close to the front edge of the box as possible. We are gonna use a bar, so go ahead and take that in your hands.

Roll the carriage out by pushing your feet into it, and then place the ball of the foot on the edge, yeah, just like that, straighten your legs all the way. Do you need a grippy for your bottom? No, I think I'm okay. Okay, all right, so we're revisiting the feeling of pushing the feet up into the foot bar that you did on 100 here, okay? So arms are going to go out in line with your shoulders.

You're gonna take a big breath in right there. Exhale, find your C curve, so just start in a C curve and just hold there. Find another, inhale. The exhale is gonna flex your feet, so your heels are gonna lower. The carriage comes towards you.

Inhale, press the toes forward, and you do it again, exhale, think press gently up. Let that help you find the deep connection in the belly. Inhale, point the toes. Last time let the toes come back. Now from there bend your knees just a little.

Perfect, that's plenty, yeah, you want to make sure you can push up into the carriage with the feet. So from here initiating the rolling back with a pelvic tilt right away inhale take it back. So for me I'm able to get my low back in contact with the box easier this way. Then exhale, come forward, you're gonna stay in the rounded shape, and then take that back again. Inhale, tailbone tips under, pause there.

Think of a little pressure up with the feet. Exhale, come forward, good, and, again, inhale takes you back. You want to make sure that your feet are really secure on the edge of the carriage. Exhale, come forward, so adjust as needed to make sure you're safe there. One more time let the inhale take you back.

We're not gonna go quite as far on this one. I want you to bring your gaze up just a little. With an exhale float the bar up not too high. Just let that help you connect deeper in your core, inhale, lower the bar. Again, exhale, pull back, pull back.

Inhale, lower the bar. One more time, exhale. In case you've lost it think of that little pressure up with the feet. Inhale, lower the bar, exhale, come all the way up. Very nice.

Then you can bend your knees for a second and rest. All right, so we're doing flat next. Go ahead and push your legs out a little bit straighter, but I don't want them to go all the way straight. Just a little greater than 90 at the knee, perfect. Arms are gonna up to the ceiling above you.

All right, that was a lovely self correction there. So take a deep breath in, exhale, grow just a little taller, and give me just a little more rib connection as you lift up, very pretty. We're gonna inhale prepare for leaning today, and some exhale, so exhale, lean back, it's not gonna be very big, that is perfect, and then inhale come up. Do it again so that you can create length if you reel the range in exhaling, beautiful. Then the inhale brings you up, all right.

We're still thinking of a little pressure up with the feet, so exhale, lean, that pressure of the feet comes directly from the low belly. Inhale, bring yourself up, two more today, exhale. Very nice, inhale brings you up. Here's your last and best. Exhale, take it back creating as much length as you can, and then come up and rest, beautiful.

I'll take your bar. We're gonna go into climb a tree and side ups next, so we're gonna move the box back to where short box is normally done. Go ahead and have a seat for me on the box, and we're starting with climb a tree so one foot under. Yeah, I like to scoot back as far as you can, so that the foot is resting more on this, yeah. I like that too.

Oh, good, so leaving the foot underneath there I feel like you could really scoot back another inch or so. So even if you're not like in this perfect flexion at the ankle, yeah. Yeah, maybe I'll bring it down. That way I can hold it. Okay, perfect, yes, that's great, that's great.

All right, so elbow comes all the way underneath that knee. Yeah, so with the elbow under the knee holding onto the wrist take a moment there and breathe in. Let's find a little pelvic tilt. So draw the abs in tiny little movement there, beautiful. Leg goes up, inhale, float the foot up.

Exhale, bend the knee down. Inhale, lift up two. Exhale, bring it down. Inhale, take it up on three and hold, thank you. Use your abdominals to flex your foot, toes down.

Inhale, point your toes forward. Again, the flex comes from the belly, beautiful. Inhale, point, exhale, flex and hold. You're gonna walk up the leg, calf, ankle and ankle. Set the shoulders in place, walk the hip forward.

The relationship between your body, and your leg does not change. You take that whole shape and lean back. In a perfect world we get this foot flat to the ceiling. So you went too far, let's come forward right there. All right, so your foot is parallel to the ceiling.

Walk down the leg, inhale, one, two, pause there. Exhale up, one, two, and three. You'll go down again. This is a great opportunity to push up on the foot bar, so walk down one and two and three. So from the right side belly exhale, press up into the strap, very good.

Go down again, use your arms less than your abs. Good, gentle hands, walk up one and two and three. Beautiful, come forward, sit back up, go ahead and point your foot. Deep breath in and bend your elbows. Let your head come forward, pull back, and just enjoy a deeper stretch.

Take the leg down and we're gonna turn now. Face this way for side ups. So I am gonna see if I can scoot you just another inch that way, so that you're pulling and kind of hanging that way. Bring your hands in front of your forehead today. Yeah, just like that, beautiful, all right.

Inhale right there. As you exhale let's make your start position a little higher, so come up right there, all right. We're just gonna have fun right here for a moment. I want you think of pushing your foot up into the strap. Now with this part inhale, prepare, exhale, take it down, and just stretch the body down.

As you come up press up with that right side belly and lift. Again, we'll exhale down today, and with an inhale elongate up using the right side. Again, as you go down push into my hand, Meredith, and open up the space, good. Now when you come up keep pushing into my hand. So pretty, do it again.

I think this is four, exhale. I'll warn you, you're doing six, and inhale brings you up a little higher to me. Yes, and again down. Good, inhale, press from the right side. Last one, take it down, exhale, create length, see if there's more.

Move your leg into my hand that's not there and come up. Beautiful, and you can rest, very nice. Like totally rest, sit up, like stop it. Sorry, okay. All right, so the other leg now starting with climb a tree.

So elbow goes right underneath the knee. All right, so set the shoulders in place and here we go. Inhale, the leg goes up. Exhale, draw the abs in knee bends. Good, so it's an inhale up, and it's as if your abs are so strong that's what's pulling your foot down.

Inhale, take it up three and hold. Flex the foot from your belly. Walk up, one, to the ankle, two, to the ankle, three. Hip walks forward just a little. Oh, point front, inhale.

Exhale, flex the foot back, abs draw in to make it happen. Inhale, point, let's get a little lift there. Beautiful, flex from the belly. Again, inhale, point, exhale, flex. Now we'll walk the hip forward just a little if you haven't already, and the relationship between the body, and the legs stays the same.

You go back until this foot is parallel to the ceiling, and you walk down. Gentle hands, two, three, left foot presses. Up, up, again, inhale, take it down. So while I'm cueing the foot it's really coming from the belly. Drop down, two, three, take it down one more, inhale.

Two, three, exhale from the low belly, and two and three, go ahead and sit forward. Lift a little more through the chest. Straighten your arms, inhale, and exhale, point the foot. Bend the arms and deepen your stretch there. Very nice, you're shaking, and rest.

Side ups facing the window. All right, so scooting out there, so you really have a feeling that you're hanging from your foot. Good, hands in front of the forehead, beautiful, nice, inhale. We're gonna start you a little bit higher with an exhale. The idea of pressing the foot up into the strap comes from here.

Next exhale takes you down. Big length, down, and let the inhale bring you up. Again, exhale, pushing into my hand open up the left side and come up, beautiful. Again, exhale making space between the ribs and the pelvis. Gorgeous, and bring it up.

Again, exhale working through here. Inhale, elongate up, two more, and down. Good and lengthen. Bring your left shoulder down just a little. Let that left side work a little harder, good.

One more time, take it down, and bring it up and you can rest, very nice. All right, you can stand on the floor. So we're going into long stretches next. I'll take your box away. So we're still playing with the idea of pressing the feet up into the foot bar, but it's inverted and your feet are on the head rest.

Perfect. It makes no sense, but, hopefully, it makes sense to a person who does Pilates because we're always saying weird things. Okay, let me just show you the way I want you to get onto the equipment. So we're gonna leave it on one spring for Meredith. I need a little more support than that, so I'm gonna demonstrate on two, and then I'll drop it back down for her size and shape.

So we're gonna step left foot is just for fun today. We're gonna take it all the way to the front of the frame. You're gonna take right hand, left foot, left hand, and then I just want you to do like a little peg like position to here. The prep for long stretch is gonna be an exhale to lower the heels, and then an inhale to come up and over the bar. Exhale is gonna lower, inhale brings you up, okay?

And you'll step down just as pretty, step down and come up. Okay. Okay, so right foot is gonna come over. Thank you, so yeah, right foot there. So left foot goes onto the head rest.

Take a moment before you bring your other foot up. Try to make that connection of pressing the foot down. Come from the belly, inhale, prepare, exhale, other foot goes up to meet it. Beautiful, prepare with an inhale. Carriage isn't gonna roll, your heels go back, and you're just lowering, very nice.

Inhale, take yourself over. So here's where we think about the foot bar. I'm gonna bring your hips up an inch, yeah. So as you lower your heels you're thinking pull the carriage into the stopper with that same low belly, and then come forward, nice. Just do it one more time, and just make that direct connection even on cueing the feet with the belly, and inhale come up.

So taking one breath to find your best position with your feet your exhale sets you up, low belly active. Take your carriage back, inhale, move. We're gonna pause, start your exhale. It comes from the feet which really comes from the belly, and you go over the bar. Good, I won't make you take that long again.

Here we go, inhale takes you back, good. The pressure of the feet helps you connect, and you float over. Let's soften here, reach through here. Go again, inhale, good. Exhale, let this help you, very good, very nice.

Good, two more, inhale, take it back. Use the feet, use the belly, float. One more time, inhale, take it back. Exhale, pulls you forward. You're gonna bring your knees down to the mat.

We're gonna get ready for down stretch. Feet go out to the shoulder rests. So finding your best ... Stand here, finding your best pelvic tilt here just to start sitting back, and then we're gonna roll that like a kneeling shoulder bridge kind of idea into the hip extension, okay? So holding right there big inhale, exhale.

Before you articulate forward not only finding the low belly connection, but feel like you're pulling the muscles of the backs of your knees up to the muscles of your butt, all right. Next, exhale, gives you that articulation of the pelvis curling forward, very nice. So from here you pause. So she looks so good here. Her pelvis is nice and neutral.

Now she's gonna take it into a slightly more like swan feeling. Yeah, all right, pull the muscles of the knees up to your butt just a little more. Here we go, press it back, inhale, and let the exhale bring you up. Create length, lift, good. A little quicker back, inhale, back and exhale, full load it up with control.

Once again, inhale, take it back. Exhale, brings you up, all right, a little fun here. Take your hands walk up to your fingertips all the way. Good, from right there take one arm up. Find your butt, find your hamstrings, other arm up.

Good, take that into a little extension. That's so beautiful. So pull your arms in, come on down, very nice. That was so pretty. Okay, so up stretch you're going up onto your toes.

Good, yes, and the heels up nice and high like that. All right, so I am just gonna give you like a little push here, so I'm gonna help you stabilize for a second. Thank you. You're welcome, so I'm still gonna be mean though, so I'm not really being nice. Shift your weight more forward into your arms today.

Yeah, even just a little bit more like, yeah, right there. So maybe about equal weight in hands and legs. Yeah, that's even better. All right, so breathe in. As you breathe out let your head hang down between your arms.

Yes, very nice. We're gonna set the shoulders in place. Another inhale, as you heavy your heels think pull with your feet. Find the connection here. Here we go, carriage goes back, inhale.

A little further if you can, Meredith. Take it back, take it back, take it back to there. Exhale, lower the hips, sorry, babe, yeah, there, and then inhale come over the bar. Yeah, draw the chin in. Float it up that's exactly right.

All right, press it back, inhale, open the carriage. Pause there a little longer this time to lower the hips, so give me a little more low belly. Give me that butt thing from footwork. Yeah, now go forward, inhale. Good, use your feet it comes from the belly.

Pull it up, carriage into stopper. Carriage into stopper, again, inhale. That was really good. Exhale, bring it down. Find that little inner thigh thing, yeah, and then come forward, inhale, and exhale draw the chin in and roll it up pressing the carriage into the stopper.

As you lift up keep lifting up. Do it again, inhale, take it back. Exhale, hips down, bring yourself forward. Draw the chin in, exhale, pull yourself up. This is your last and your favorite.

Hold there, keep pulling, keep using your feet, dig into the stopper and step your feet down flat. Very nice, good, so elephant, let your head hang. Good, yeah, and again we're just gonna ... Good, you know what let's do this. Walk your feet forward like an inch or so.

Can you go between where you went and where you were? Yeah, okay. Press your heels down and let your head, yeah, release. Now I'm just gonna have you shift forward to me. Nice.

Breathe in. As you breath out settle into your shoulders just a little bit. Yeah, keep settling down, good. All right, stay there with another breath in. Your exhale is so deeply connected in the low belly it's gonna pick your toes up.

Good, relax your toes, breathe in. Breathe out, do it again. Your abs draw in so much your toes lift, good. Settle back into your shoulders just a little. Yeah, like let your body weight hang into your shoulders a little, yeah.

All right, so here we go. You have to do the exercise now. Inhale, the carriage goes back, pause there. Exhale, you're lifting your toes, and you're rolling the carriage from that same low belly connection. Take it back again, inhale and exhale, very good.

Again, inhale, good. Exhale, draw it in. Toes up from the belly, two more, good. I didn't even know they weren't that lifted. Inhale, exhale, pull it up, one more time.

Inhale, take it back, exhale, bring it. Why don't you just step forward a little bit, and down to the floor, and let the blood get back into your heart. Just stand up, good, great, nice job, you were so great. Yeah, not happy? I was afraid.

Terrifying, all right. So we're going into knee stretches next. So I'm gonna just demonstrate the transition for that. I'm gonna put it on two springs for knee stretches, and you're gonna step up. Take your toes as far back into the shoulder rest as you can.

That's not gonna feel as bad as it does right now in a second, so you're gonna from there draw the ribs in, draw the waist up, and that's what's gonna bring your shins down parallel to the floor, carriage, inhale, back, bring it in. Okay, so we're making sure we get the stretch of the toes by starting that way, okay? Yeah, you can just get up there. Yes, so you want to go as far as you can. You may not have the flexibility in your toes that Meredith or I have right here, but just try to get a little more stretch than you normally want to.

All right, so I'm gonna help you out a little. Why don't you come back, actually, just a little into the legs a little more weight to me. Okay, big inhale, prepare, exhale. The pelvic tilt takes you down. Hover right there, start the exercise, and exhale pull it under, one, and pull it under, two, not quite so far back, bring it under, three, now guess what?

Use your feet, push with your feet, pull from your belly, and take it back, pull from the low belly, and exhale bring it in, and exhale bring it in. Just one more bring it in and hold. Stay right there deep in the curl. Put your knees down and rest. Very nice, you can stand up.

We're gonna lie down for running next. So going back to the three springs you can go ahead and put that spring on. I'll lower your head rest for you. Okay, arms reaching long. It's nice to lay down after doing these stretches.

So relaxing through your shoulders go ahead and straighten your legs. Press up to the very top. All right, so we're gonna kind of go through three phases in running today. We're gonna start with a really petite range, so like a one inch movement of the heels, and go down up one, good. So what we're trying to do is fine, keep going, and we're gonna try to find that same footwork feeling, okay?

So take it all the way back to that. So it's the feeling of the posterior portion of your inner thighs working, and then just a little right where your butt meets your thigh, too, so just kind of perking that thing up, good. Now pick up the range. The heel is gonna go just below the foot bar, so not to meet, yes, right there, and now keep going, and down, yeah, so you're trying to see can I keep all of that going and pick up my range. Good, and maybe just breathe for a second, inhale, and exhale.

So lots of (mumbles) It is, I know, sorry. So now we make it even bigger down and up, down and up, very good. Up and up, and up, and up. Keep going for a few more. When you think you don't want to do anymore I'll stop.

Good, that was probably like five reps ago. I think that's plenty pick both heels up. Find that connection. Drag the carriage all the way in. All right, going into bottom lift feet go out to the corners.

I'm keeping her on the same springs for bottom lift that we had for footwork and for running, so I'm gonna have you take your heels, and put them right in the corner of the bar, and prepare there, nice inhale. Like a pelvic tilt just exhale naval to spine. We're gonna keep the back ribs on the mat today freeing the low back and the bottom, so I'm gonna have you come up like two more inches maybe. Yeah, good, okay, so in footwork we talked about the little toe. Let's take that little toe, and wrap it around the bar this way, and press the knees out a little bit wider.

Straighten your legs, inhale gets you there. Pause here. Press your feet out against the bar, and that's gonna help you find your side butt. Okay, breathe in, now come in. Eventually, you can't press out anymore, so you just hug and you come in.

Little toes wrap, take it back, inhale. Get the pressure out, exhale, come in. Little toes wrap, knees open wide. Yes, and take it back. There's something about the little toe thing that makes you able to open the knees more.

Exhale, yes, very good. Again, inhale takes you back. Find that pressure, feet outside, butt working. Exhale, pulls you in, abs tight, knees open. Two more today, inhale takes you back.

Exhale drags you in, and one last time. Inhale takes you back and exhale all the way in. Uncurl that spine all the way down. Very nice. Okay, you can stand up.

So we're gonna go into a pike to finish today, and I'm gonna use the box. I'll demonstrate this for you, okay? So we're gonna step up. I like to use the box for this because you can have a wider position with your hands then if you use the shoulder rest. We're not doing full control pushup, but the idea is you're gonna be able to open up through the shoulders.

From here we're gonna step up into a high pike position. The carriage is gonna roll out. Inhale gets you to a nice plank. With an exhale we're pressing the carriage out even further. The carriage comes under the shoulders.

Then from here I'm picky drop the head. Move the box first and then bring yourself up. Okay, so there's just a moment where I get bossy. So it's on the way in after the hands come under the shoulders. Take a little extra second, head goes, box pulls, and then you lift.

Okay. All right, so when you come up into it hit that high pike and just hold it. Yeah, so it's very folded up. When you're ready roll the carriage out find a plank. The hands will be directly under the shoulders for a moment.

Right there, okay. So she's in inhale here. The exhale moves the carriage out, and this nice little rib connection happens there. Inhale, carriage comes underneath her shoulders. Now here's where we take it slow.

Heads gonna go down. You're gonna pull the box under then allow your hips to lift so the box is ... Yeah, there, you're shaking. Okay, do it again. Inhale, take it out.

Find that beautiful plank. Hands right under shoulder right there. Exhale, move it out and just get that great connection through the front ribs without sacrificing your shoulders. There you go, now inhale, carriage under your hands. I mean, under your shoulders.

Pause there, head goes down. Pull the hands under and then keep pulling with the box. Under, under, into the stop. Do it again, inhale takes you out, find the plank. Exhale, press, yeah that spring's a little heavy.

Bring the box under. Good, tuck the head down, pull the box underneath you piking up nice and high. Give me one more in case that first one wasn't as much fun as it could be. Take it out, inhale, find that plank. Good, exhale, move it out.

Inhale, bring the box under. Pause, your foot's on the foot bar, dig into it. Drop your head, pull the box under, and make that connection your best here at the end. Step your feet down. Good, good, and you're cooked.

Yay. Thank you so much.